Quick response saves burning home in Malta

Larissa Allery was the down the block from her home in Malta last Wednesday night, babysitting for a friend when she got a frightening phone call.

“I got the call at 11:26,” Allery told the PCN on Thursday. “My boyfriend called me and said the was a fire at our house.”

Allery was told by officials that the fire was started when a ceiling fan near the back of the trailer home that had been disconnected arched and started the blaze. She said the firefighters at the scene had to poke holes all along the roof looking for hotspots and had the entire fire contained in about 90 minutes.

“They all responded very quickly,” Allery said. “They were called right away and a lot of people showed up. There were ambulances, EMTs, firefighters…I just want to thank them all very much.”

Allery said her boyfriend, Dan Anderson, was home alone in the house when he heard a loud pop. He went to the back of the trailer, to a room her father used to live in, to investigate the noise and found the smoke everywhere and both the floor of the home and the ceiling were on fire.

“He called 911 and said that in about an hour or hour and a half the fire was out,” she said. “It’s mostly smoke and water damage, but the holes in the roof go all the way to the living room and the kitchen.”

Allery said beside the damage, much of her late father’s possessions – including a file cabinet – were saved from the fire by the quick action of responders. Allery and Anderson are the only people who live in the home now. Anderson suffered some smoke inhalation, but other than that suffered no injuries. Allery said that after 911 was called, Dan did what he could to stifle the fire and when he began choking, the couple’s neighbors, Jacy and Shane Stolem, showed up to help until the emergency crews arrived. As of last Thursday, the home was not livable because of the smoke and water damage and Allery said that neighbors and friends, Kesi Sandvick and Jeret Kienenberger, have offered the couple a place to live until they figure out how to proceed.

“The trailer is still salvageable, but there is a lot of damage,” she said.

Allery and her family moved the trailer in from the Hi-Line Trailer Court shortly after that facility closed and have been at the current location on South 7th Ave West in Malta since around 2003. Though the damage to the home is troubling, Allery again stressed that having the community's support in her time of crisis has meant the world to her. Allery said that normally when a trailer home catches fire it is burned down rapidly, but again thanked the quick response from emergency crews which helped avoid a total loss of the home.

“I just want to thank the community and everybody who showed up and helped for how fast they were and what a good job they did,” she said. “I’m just glad that my Dad’s stuff was saved.”